Researchers from the Cardiovascular Diseases group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) presented their latest advances at the congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) held in Barcelona between 26 and 29 August 2022. Of particular interest are the projects in the field of myocardial infarction, non-compaction cardiomyopathy and genetic aortic pathology.

On the other hand, VHIR hosted on August 25 a meeting of the executive team of the European network VascAgeNet, dedicated to vascular aging. The aim of this project is to refine, harmonize and promote the use of vascular aging measures. The meeting, led by Dr. Andrea Guala, researcher of the Cardiovascular Diseases group at VHIR and one of the researchers of the cardiac imaging team and responsible for VascAgeNet training activities, aimed to plan the next steps during the third year of the project.

Vascular aging is the deterioration of vascular structure and function over time and ultimately leads to damage to the heart, brain, kidneys, and other organs. Vascular aging encompasses the cumulative effect of all cardiovascular risk factors on the arterial wall over a lifetime and, therefore, can help identify individuals at elevated cardiovascular risk early in the development of the disease.